C6 guys, does your 10th string go sharp if you hit it hard?

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

My low B string on my U-12 always goes sharp when I first hit it, and them gets flatter as it decays. I think the 70 gauge string is too thin. D'Adderio makes an 80 gauge string and Ernie Ball makes one that's 90 gauge.

Time to experiment.
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

That string is too low. Razz

Seriously, what brand strings do you use? What's the gauge of the core?
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Robby Springfield · From: Viola, AR, USA

That is normal for the 70 gage string if you hit it very hard. Try a 72 or 74. I've found that much past the 74 will create too much of a gap under strings 7, 8, and 9 because of the increased tension and thickness on string 10...that is for me anyway. I know there are guys that use bigger gages than the 74 and it doesn't bother them.
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Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

Mike, I tend to push the bar down too hard. I believe that is where the sharp gets started. Listen to the Bobby Garret recording of
Rose City Chimes. Bobby hit the last note on that string and it was a noticibly sharp note. That string just does not have the tension tuned to low C, that larger strings have. Then you get into the problem that Robby talked about. Much larger than a 70 guage and it will rattle. IMO, it's a matter of adding volume and try to strike the string a little lighter than normal. Easy to say, not easy to do. Smile

Bobby Boggs · From: Upstate SC.

Every Keyed guitar I've ever played. That raises the 10th string C to D and lowers the 10th C to A. Returns noticibly sharp.The only exception is the Carter. I have lower return compensators on all my personal guitars. This takes care of the problem. Why a lower return compensator is not standard for this change on all keyed guitars,(except Carter) is a mystery to me. Rolling Eyes

After all, it's not 1965. It's almost 2010.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Every string is sharp when you first pick it.
If you don't believe me, just watch the needle on an electronic tuner.
When I tune, I always wait for the note to "settle down" a bit to get an accurate reading.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I use either 68 or 70 on the low C. On every guitar I've ever owned, D10 or U12, 14's that string is always sharp when you first strike it.

My solution is just to tune it so it sounds ok by ear, which will be a few cents flat. Try to reach a happy medium then tune the pedal changes off that by ear. Works for me.

John Polstra · From: Lopez Island, WA, USA

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

John,
I know it and then some worry about "cabinet drop".
As you stated, you get more variation than that just tuning up that contraption! Very Happy

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

The absolute best tuning device is the ear. The greatest solos we've tried for years to emulate were played on guitars with cabinets flexing all over the place and hysteresis out the wazoo. The players used their ears for correct intonation.

Digital tuners work great in the sterile environment of the music room. Then you get onstage with an inexperienced fiddler and a guitarist playing a Telecaster with a .009 first string, and...
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

I know that the meter says that a note is sharp when you first pick it, but I don't hear it. Maybe the meter hears the pick attack and averages it into the frequency count.

Like Herb says, trust your ears.

Also (and I know that few people agree with me on this) - that string is too low. Steel guitars have no business playing any notes below D. That's the bass player's domain. Just my opinion. Razz

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Ivan Posa · From: Hamilton, New Zealand

I have always struggled with the discussions on tuning the Steel Guitar. Whatever way the instrument is tuned with open strings, as soon as a bar is placed on the strings everything changes and it is only the players ear that counts. I have heard players with perfectly tuned guitars in the open position sound awfully out of tune . As Herb says, most of the memorable Steel playing over the years has been played on Guitars with cabinet drop, hysterisis and other failings to the fore. Skilfull players minimise these problems by ear.

Barry Hyman · From: upstate New York, USA

Erv is right. Everytime you pick any string on any instrument, you stretch it slightly, so it is sharp for a few milliseconds before it settles down to the pitch it is tuned to. Thick strings are more susceptible to this problem, perhaps because they are often under less tension. This "detuned attack" is what makes a plucked string hard to imitate on a synthesizer. The only solution is to pick gently.
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Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

For the most part I "tickle the strings", which minimizes this detuning. When I want strong-sounding attacks I don't care if the string pitches sharp, as it's the "normalized", sustained, tone I hear/judge pitch at and it is the sustained tone strings on my steels are tuned for - no tuners involved.

Testing now, I notice that I tend to constantly change downward pressure on/along the bar for lower strings ever so slightly as I pick and sustain single notes and chords, correcting a little by ear for this natural pitch-change. Can't remember having learned to do that or that I've given "micro-tuning" to counteract this type of pitch-change much of a thought, so it is probably just one of those reflexes one unconsciously build up over time.

Danny Bates · From: Fresno, CA. USA

b0b said:

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Yes. It does. Life is not fair. Crying or Very sad

Ulric Utsi-Åhlin · From: Sweden

Those low notes require longer scale...one specific
scale length dictates the tonal register headroom
and,if You make a broad-register instrument out of
it anyway,You will have to sacrifice either the lows
OR the highs...You can´t have brilliant highs AND
a tight low register...lengths of 24-25" provide a
compromise we can live with.McUtsi

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

You hit the string and it flexes and tightens and the pitch goes up until the string settles down into its normal vibration range.

If you hit that low string very very lightly you will not see the same sharp pitch upon striking. You need a larger diameter string which will pull up tighter and flex less.

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